GP Bullhound has today announced that it is strengthening its UK coverage by opening an office in Manchester. With this move, GP Bullhound becomes the only technology investment banking group with a regional UK office, alongside its presence in London, San Francisco, Stockholm and Berlin. GP Bullhound sees a real gap outside London to deliver sector specific corporate finance advice to high growth companies in the internet, software, hardware and IT services industries.

The Manchester office is headed up by GP Bullhound founder and managing partner Hugh Campbell. He will be joined by Adam Rudd who joins from Gresham Private Equity where he has focused on investing in technology companies such as Investis and IESA. Prior to Gresham, Adam was at AO.com in a strategic and commercial role having started his career in corporate finance at KPMG and Brewin Dolphin.

GP Bullhound’s commitment to the region is further illustrated by its acquisition of the Northern Tech Awards. These awards now recognise the top 50 fastest growing tech companies in the region and celebrate their achievements at an invitation-only dinner on 27 March 2014. To find out more please go to http://northerntechawards.com/.

Manchester has a strong entrepreneurial tradition. Furthermore, with 7m people living within 60 minutes’ drive of the city centre, GP Bullhound can support technology entrepreneurs in key northern cities such as Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle as well as Scotland. The region boasts home-grown technologies such as Graphene as well as companies such as Sage, Moneysupermarket, SurfControl and AO.com. In addition with the BBC and ITV committed to MediaCity, GP Bullhound is seeing a cluster of digital media and content technology businesses developing quickly.

Hugh Campbell, commented: “We have spent the last two years actively advising companies in the region and already this year we have closed the sale of Realise to St Ives for £40m and raised £8m for Car Loan 4U. We know that our blend of deal-making, research and events are a breath of fresh air for many companies and founders. Our international reach to investors and buyers in the USA, continental Europe and Asia will be invaluable to those companies looking to grow and prosper on the world stage.”

Tim Newns, chief executive of MIDAS, Manchester’s inward investment agency, added: “GP Bullhound’s investment recognises Manchester’s position as the driver of the north of England’s digital and tech economy but also its potential contribution to the global tech sector. Having invested £3.5 billion in building a world-class infrastructure, the arrival of a company like GP Bullhound marks the beginning of a very exciting period which will see Manchester move up a further gear in terms of its reputation as one of the world’s great tech cities”.

Notes to editors:

GP Bullhound GP Bullhound is an international technology investment banking group with offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin and Manchester. Founded in 1999, GP Bullhound provides world-class advice on mergers, acquisitions and private placements to a diverse range of corporate clients, institutional investors and high net worth individuals.

Combining a true love for entrepreneurship and innovation with deep global buyer relations and sector expertise, GP Bullhound has completed transactions for many category leaders, most recently selling Pozitron to Monitise, Pure360 to SEP, Tunigo to Spotify and Fjord to Accenture.